KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As Give Black Week begins in Kansas City, Missouri, one local nonprofit is showcasing its work in the community as it hopes to secure further investment in Black-led organizations.
That includes a tight-knit relationship with Kansas City Public Schools.
KCPS has a diverse student body, speaking more than 40 languages. That’s where the district’s welcome center and global academy comes in.
"It’s designed to meet the needs of recently arrived immigrants and refugees who just got to the United States," Ryan Rumpf, the KCPS international welcome center's program administrator, said. "They’re our newest neighbors and they add a new fresh perspective to our community and our workforce."
One need for immigrant students is books in their languages as they learn English. That’s where an idea and a local nonprofit came in.
"BeGreat Together sponsored an opportunity for our world language academy to be able to get books in all of the native languages represented in the global academy," said KCPS assistant superintendent Dr. Lateshia Woodley.
That’s just one example of a $10,000 grant that BeGreat Together distributes in partnership with KCPS, investing in students.
"It’s insuring that investment goes into all of our communities equitably," Avrell Stokes, the executive director at BeGreat Together, said.
That kind of financial support is a cornerstone of Give Black Week.
"Black-lead organizations have 76% less unrestricted net assets than white lead organizations," Stokes said. "We're often at risk of seeing issues perpetuated throughout the community if we don’t realize that people are the cost."
As the community looks to the future, the efforts of Give Black Week are focused on securing an equitable future for all.
"We feel something in the air — there is change, it is growing in diversity," Stokes said. "Now my question, is Kansas City going in its efforts to embrace diversity, as much as diversity is coming into Kansas City?"
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